Carol James was dizzy and breaking out in painful spots on her skin. Uninsured, she went to a hospital emergency room but walked out after two hours of fruitless waiting. Then she went to a St. John’s Community Health clinic in South Los Angeles – and her life changed.
Charles Leonard saw a billowing cloud of black smoke rising in the air and stepped outside the Boyle Heights home where he works as a caregiver. He caught a sharp, acrid smell. He saw soot on the house and black splotches all over his white car. He wondered: What is in the air?
For more than 30 years, they were neighbors on a quiet cul-de-sac beneath the foothills of Altadena — sharing not just a street, but also a neighborhood. Then the wildfires came, scattering them miles away to separate lives in temporary housing. And yet, in a twist that felt almost too unlikely to be coincidence, they found each other again— neighbors once more, this time in the same apartment complex in Monrovia.
CCF announced this week grants to more than 20 community organizations through its recently activated Impact Fund, to provide immediate relief to Boyle Heights and surrounding Eastside communities impacted by this week's warehouse fire. Grants will help support immediate community needs like food, masks, air purifiers, and other basic need essentials
In a cheery cafe in Venice, Melissa Iles comes off the streets weary and hungry after another night trying to find somewhere safe to lay her head. She is greeted by smiling servers, hot coffee and a meal of pancakes, eggs, home fries and watermelon – a “soothing” experience, she says.
In response to the ongoing warehouse fire in Boyle Heights and the state of emergency declarations issued by both the City of Los Angeles and the State of California, the California Community Foundation (CCF) today announced the activation of the CCF Impact Fund to provide direct, immediate relief to residents affected by the disaster.